Come Wake Me Up
by Vivere Sine Timore
Summary: Oscar is left with just an engagement ring and his thoughts, contemplating why things worked out the way they did.


Oscar Santos had never had problems with love.

In high school, he'd been part of "the in crowd", the popular kids. He'd been pretty good looking even then, and he'd known it. Even back then he could've had any girl he wanted to. And for a while he'd been a serial dater; he'd be with one girl one week, and then two weeks later he was with another one. His relationships had been shorter than his attention span.

Once he got to college, he managed to clam down a bit. He still could have any girl he wanted, but there was this one girl he really liked. Melanie Duff. She frustrated him and he loved it. She was mysterious and he spent the better part of his freshman year chasing her. Their sophomore year was when he finally convinced her to go on a date with him. They'd lasted almost two years, until they agreed that, since they were both moving on to two different colleges and pursuing two very different things, it would be best for them to break it off. They'd graduated, and that had been the last time he saw her.

And then there was Natara. She was definitely different from all the others. Sure, she was smart like the others, she was funny like the others. But she had an amazing will to keep pushing herself forward. He'd loved getting to know her and her little quirks. For example, she hated to lose and would cheat, blatantly and unabashedly, just to make sure she wouldn't. She loved strawberry ice cream and absolutely could not live without music. And she only planned on marrying once; if it fell apart in the end, she thought she'd probably stay single for the rest of her life.

He definitely thought she was the one. And he thought he was her "one and done". They were perfect for each other. They understood one another and and what made them tick. He knew exactly what pissed her off the most and what would make her capable of murdering him. And he loved to do it just to tease her and see how she would react. She did the same to him all the time. She was another example of how love had always seemed easy to him.

So he wasn't quite sure how he ended up alone in his apartment two weeks before his wedding.

He turned the ring over and over in his palm, watching the light from the sun bouncing off of its smooth, shiny surface. He turned it again and the diamond caught the light, throwing rainbows across his living room walls. He stared at them for a moment, then turned the ring again.

He supposed he'd seen it coming. She'd seemed distant and uncaring the past few weeks. He'd been concerned, but he hadn't thought that she'd been having second thoughts about the wedding. He couldn't get her words out of his head though. She claimed that she'd "rushed into things without thinking them through first." She'd promised him that she was usually rational and thorough, something he already knew. Which is why he didn't suspect she'd ever do this.

It was her answer when he'd asked her why, though, that stuck with him the most. "He's my best friend," she'd said, and he hadn't had to ask who she was talking about. He knew, and she knew he knew. That's when she'd taken off the ring and placed it in his palm, closing his fingers around it.

"I really hope you can forgive me," she said. "I'd understand if you can't or won't, but I really do hope that one day you can find it in you to forgive me." He'd smiled sadly at her and shook his head.

"I guess now's the time where I would scream and cry and tell you that he's only going to hurt you and that he'll never love you the way I do, right?" He'd joked without humor. "But I know he won't. I've seen the way he looks at you, and he'd sooner throw himself under a bus that hurt you in any way."

"Yeah, he would."

"Take care of yourself, okay?" He'd said, finally finding the strength to look at her. "Try not to get yourself shot or kidnapped or something." Natara laughed in spite of herself.

"I will," she promised. "You take care of yourself too." He'd begun to walk away after that, shoving his hands in his pockets. He just wanted to put as much distance between himself and the park right now.

"Oscar?" He turned, trying not to hope she'd changed her mind in those few seconds. "I wish you every happiness and every blessing and every good thing in life. I truly do. And I hope that someday you meet someone better than me, someone who won't hurt you like I did." He nodded and looked down.

Goodbye, Nat. I hope everything works out for you."


End file.
